The present invention is related to integrated circuit sense amplifiers and, more particularly, to high-speed, current sense amplifier circuits.
Sense amplifiers are required for circuits which require the discrimination of signals into signals of different states, i.e., a clear logic one or logic zero. For example, these amplifiers are used in all integrated circuit memory products to distinguish the digital state of a memory cell. The sense amplifier circuits may be used to determine the difference in storage charges, cell currents or cell voltages. For any circuit in an integrated circuit device, it is desirable that the circuit be robust, i.e., capable of operating under a variety of conditions. It is typically desirable that a sense amplifier be capable of operating with variations in the power supply voltages. Furthermore, the number of transistors used in designing the sense amplifier circuit should be minimal in order to save space on the integrated circuit. The present invention offers such advantages.